How can I delete some snapshot? The available space is finishing.

Discussions about using Windows guests in VirtualBox.
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jlplautz
Posts: 2
Joined: 1. Feb 2023, 23:50

How can I delete some snapshot? The available space is finishing.

Post by jlplautz »

Virtual box printscrieen
Virtual box printscrieen
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Virtual box printscrieen
Virtual box printscrieen
Virtual-box and snapshots.png (49.73 KiB) Viewed 1871 times
Hi Virtualbox Team.

I have a ubuntu (20.4) host and one SSD disc 256GB. And I am working with 99% of used space.

In the attached files I send snapshots and directories.

I tried to cancel the snapshots, but without success. My virtual box has 80GB and I would like to delete at list 40 GBs.

How can I proceed to get the space reduce?

Thanks in advance

Jorge Plautz
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scottgus1
Site Moderator
Posts: 20965
Joined: 30. Dec 2009, 20:14
Primary OS: MS Windows 10
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Windows, Linux

Re: How can I delete some snapshot? The available space is finishing.

Post by scottgus1 »

First, make a complete host backup so the VM's files can be restored if a host glitch happens while the snapshots are being edited.

Then, select the VM in the main window's list. Clink the three-lines-three-dots menu at the end of the VM tile, select Snapshots. Select a snapshot, then click Delete. The snapshot data will merge with its neighbors. This may take a little while depending on the size.
mpack
Site Moderator
Posts: 39156
Joined: 4. Sep 2008, 17:09
Primary OS: MS Windows 10
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Mostly XP

Re: How can I delete some snapshot? The available space is finishing.

Post by mpack »

If you are REALLY short of disk space on the host (and if you're a snapshot user that will often be the case) then VirtualBox may be unable to complete the deletion, because of how it works: for safety it first creates a merged VDI (which it will need space for) and only if that succeeds will it deletes the two old VDI files and update the chain links.

I suggest that you look for the biggest space hogs on the drive (or than the VM itself) and move some of them to an external drive, to make space on the system drive - you can restore them later. For safety you want to free up enough space for a new file equal in size to the sum of the two largest snapshots, plus a healthy margin.
jlplautz
Posts: 2
Joined: 1. Feb 2023, 23:50

Re: How can I delete some snapshot? The available space is finishing.

Post by jlplautz »

mpack wrote:If you are REALLY short of disk space on the host (and if you're a snapshot user that will often be the case) then VirtualBox may be unable to complete the deletion, because of how it works: for safety it first creates a merged VDI (which it will need space for) and only if that succeeds will it deletes the two old VDI files and update the chain links.

I suggest that you look for the biggest space hogs on the drive (or than the VM itself) and move some of them to an external drive, to make space on the system drive - you can restore them later. For safety you want to free up enough space for a new file equal in size to the sum of the two largest snapshots, plus a healthy margin.
Thanks mpack for your replay.

I agreed with you that the problem is regard to no free space on SSD disc.

The solution was: I moved the old snapshot to another disc. I removed from SSD to a normal disc.
Now I have more free space on SSD disc.

Thanks a lot for your attention and help.

Beste Regards

Jorge Plautz
mpack
Site Moderator
Posts: 39156
Joined: 4. Sep 2008, 17:09
Primary OS: MS Windows 10
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Mostly XP

Re: How can I delete some snapshot? The available space is finishing.

Post by mpack »

jlplautz wrote: The solution was: I moved the old snapshot to another disc. I removed from SSD to a normal disc.
That sounds worrying. You should not be moving individual snapshot files around, that would just be setting up a future catastrophe. Either move the entire VM to an SSD (Howto: Move a VM), or you should follow the procedure I outlined.
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